ETHIOPIA: Call to Abolish Death Penalty

The Ethiopian government faced fresh calls from human rights organisations on Friday to abolish the death penalty.

The Ethiopian Human Rights Council (EHRCO) appealed to Prime Minister Meles Zenawi to bring an end to executions in the country.

International rights organisations estimate that around 50 people have been sentenced to death in the last decade - many former officials from the previous regime.

The call for the abolition of the death penalty comes after 4 men were sentenced to hang in August after being convicted of "genocide" under the former government.

Last year, 5 members of the radical Somali Al-Ittihad al-Islamiya group were sentenced to death for committing "terrorist acts" in Ethiopia.

EHRCO argued that the death penalty is "barbaric" and that society should "teach and reform" offenders.

"A society can be more healthy by teaching, reforming and rehabilitating the offender," the human rights organisation said in a report released on Friday.

In Ethiopia the death penalty involves either hanging or death by firing squad.

EHRCO also described as "flawed" arguments that claim the death penalty reduces crime in society. "The notion that judicial killings would be instructive has been disproved by the history of mankind since ancient times," it said.

The death penalty was introduced in the mid-1950s after the drafting of the country's 1st modern penal code. The government is currently revising the penal code.

Those condemned to death have the right to appeal to a higher court and to petition for presidential clemency.